PHYSEDAGOGY

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Adam Howell

PHYSEDagogy is back!

Greetings from SHAPE Seattle 2023! It’s been so great seeing so many old friends while here over the past week. We’ve heard from so many people asking us, “is the band getting back together?” The short answer is, the band never broke up! We have just been working on all of our various solo projects!

We are all at different points in our professional lives now, but we have never stopped caring about or contributing to our profession in our own unique ways. However, something has been missing over the past few years.

We want to stretch our thinking. We want deeper conversations about pedagogy. We want to level up–in partnership with like-minded professionals who miss being challenged and pushed to grow in a sea of self-promotion and less meaningful dialogue. Our good friend Andy Milne captures it perfectly, “We are getting fed, but we are not eating any new dishes.” We want to hold space to share more ideas and grapple with them in relationship with other professionals and share less resources that are just consumed by the masses.

There will be a lot more coming from us soon, including from some new voices, but I wanted to share our new About Us section on our website that captures how we see our contribution to this profession. This is the first update we have made to this section of the website since August of 2014. We hope you take the time to read it and that we can connect again soon.

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Posted on May 17, 2023 by Naomi Hartl

AI Empowering Abilities: Liberation, Accommodation, and Automation!

How Artificial Intelligence Transforms the Lives of Individuals with Disabilities.

Virtual Personal Assistants. Social Media Algorithms. Online Shopping Recommendations. Fraud Detection. Content Moderation. You may not realize it, but Artificial Intelligence (AI) is involved in each of these things. If AI can recommend suggested products based on browsing and purchase history, how can it make work and life more accommodating for my disability? Throughout this blog post, Collin and Naomi tackle this question and share how they have been purposely and authentically using artificial intelligence to liberate, accommodate, and automate their lives.

Naomi’s Story

I had the opportunity to connect with some members of the PHYSEDagogy team when they were all in Seattle for the SHAPE America Conference back in March. At dinner one night, Collin had been sharing some exciting things he had been learning about Artificial intelligence. As he described the benefits of AI, I couldn’t help but think about how it could help me overcome the barriers that I face with my new illness.

Dealing with a New Chronic Illness and Disability

In April of 2021, I contracted COVID-19. Even after recovering from the acute phase of COVID-19, I’ve continued to experience a wide range of symptoms that have impacted my physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being. For the past 2 years, I have lived with a post-acute sequelae SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) or the more commonly known term, Long COVID-19.

Some of the physical symptoms I’ve experienced include persistent fatigue, arthralgia in my hands, and reduced exercise tolerance (especially cardiovascular endurance). I’ve also experienced cognitive symptoms such as brain fog, difficulty concentrating, aphasia, and memory problems, making completing tasks challenging. My depression worsened, and emotionally, I struggled with feelings of frustration, isolation, and uncertainty as I tried to manage my symptoms and figure out how to move forward. Long-COVID has profoundly changed my life, making it difficult to function as I did before and forcing me to adjust my daily life and routines.

A Whole New World

As someone with Long-COVID, my life has changed dramatically because of my new impairments. As I navigate this new world of doing things, I recognize that AI is a tool that I can use to help me stay organized, create high-quality materials, navigate my work environment more efficiently, and communicate more effectively. It has already been a game-changer for me, and I am just starting. I know if it can help me it can also support people like me with a new-found illness, impairment, or disability.

AI-Based Tools to Level Up Productivity

Over the past few months, I have been slowly researching different AI tools to see which ones could help me manage my workload, communicate more effectively, eliminate the busy work, and develop a personalized organizational system. I looked at tools that can help create presentations, guide my research, organize my calendars, create content, edit and analyze my work, and take notes in meetings, allowing me to be more present and strategic in my job.

What did I find out when I started looking at AI tools? There are so many out there! My Instagram is now giving me targeted ads and reels that focus on new AI tools and I am learning all about the AI world and what it has to offer me.

Exciting New AI Tools

I have narrowed down a list of AI Tools that I am planning to use and try out. Please note that I have tried a few of them and am working my way through this list. Tasks take a little longer, and I have learned to pace myself. Here are a few exciting AI Tools!

Podcastle: Podcastle is an AI-powered podcast transcription tool. It can transcribe podcasts into text, making them easily searchable and accessible. It uses AI to automatically transcribe spoken words with high accuracy, reducing the time and effort required for manual transcription.
TomeAI: TomeAI is an AI-powered research assistant that can help users find relevant research articles and papers. It uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand user queries and search a vast database of research articles to find relevant results.
TLDRthis: TLDRthis is an AI-powered summarization tool that summarizes articles and webpages into concise, easy-to-read summaries. It uses natural language processing (NLP) to identify the key points of an article and create a summary.
Grammarly: an AI-powered writing assistant that can help improve writing skills, check for grammar and spelling errors and suggest alternative word choices.
Compose AI: Compose AI is an AI-powered writing assistant that can help users create high-quality content such as emails, reports, and blog posts. It uses machine learning algorithms to suggest sentence structures, grammar corrections, and style improvements.
Copy AI: Copy AI is an AI-powered writing assistant that can generate high-quality content such as blog posts, product descriptions, and marketing copy. It uses machine learning algorithms to analyze existing content and generate new content that matches the tone and style of the original.
Write Sonic: Write Sonic is an AI-powered writing assistant that can help users create high-quality content such as blog posts, emails, and reports. It uses machine learning algorithms to suggest sentence structures, grammar corrections, and style improvements.
Text Blaze: Text Blaze is an AI-powered text expansion tool that can help users save time by automating repetitive typing tasks. It uses machine learning algorithms to recognize frequently used phrases and shortcuts and automatically expands them when the user types a predefined keyword.
Beautiful AI: Beautiful AI is an AI-powered presentation tool that can help users create professional-looking presentations. It uses machine learning algorithms to suggest design templates, layout options, and font choices based on the presentation’s content.
Gamma AI: Gamma AI is an AI-powered research assistant that can help users find relevant research articles and papers. It uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand user queries and search a vast database of research articles to find relevant results.
Steve AI: Steve AI is an AI-powered personal assistant that can help users manage calendars, set reminders, and perform other tasks. It uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand user queries and provide helpful responses.
Fireflies: Fireflies is an AI-powered meeting assistant that can help users manage their meetings more efficiently. It can automatically transcribe meetings, highlight important points, and provide summaries and action items.
Otter.ai – an AI-powered transcription tool that can help transcribe meetings, lectures, and interviews, making searching and reviewing important information easier.

Collin’s Story

In my journey through academia and the professional world, I have encountered various challenges due to my learning disability. In 2014, I wrote about my learning disability in detail. From a young age, tasks like reading, writing, spelling, and math presented significant hurdles for me. However, amidst these struggles, I discovered the power of AI-based tools that have transformed my educational experience and opened doors of independence. Today, I want to share my story of how AI tools have empowered me and my belief in the potential of AI tools like ChatGPT to revolutionize the lives of students and professionals.

Early Discovery

I was diagnosed with a learning disability in second grade, and it was a turning point in my academic journey. During this time, I was introduced to the Franklin Spell Checker—an awesome tool that changed my life. Suddenly, spelling correctly became attainable, and I felt a newfound sense of empowerment as an independent student in the classroom. Moreover, the tool helped me write faster and more efficiently, allowing me to keep pace with my peers.

Unleashing the Power of AI Tools

As I progressed through my academic and professional life, I encountered other AI-based tools that gave me a similar feeling of empowerment. Tools like Grammarly became invaluable in improving my writing skills, checking for grammar and spelling errors, and suggesting alternative word choices. At the time, I didn’t fully realize that all these tools were powered by artificial intelligence, quietly supporting me in my journey.

The Unseen Potential of ChatGPT

When I first came across ChatGPT, I was excited about its potential for students like me. With AI tools like ChatGPT, students can gain the confidence to express themselves independently, bridge communication gaps, and overcome academic challenges. The ability to articulate thoughts faster and work more efficiently could be a game-changer for students with learning disabilities.

Empowering Independence and Accelerating Learning

The true impact of AI tools lies in their ability to empower students with learning disabilities to become more independent learners. These tools break down barriers, enabling students to overcome challenges in real time. By leveraging AI capabilities, students can articulate their thoughts more effectively, work faster, and keep up with the demands of their education. The potential for transformative change in the lives of these students is immense.

Benefits of AI for Students with Learning Disabilities

AI can provide several advantages for students with learning disabilities. Some of these benefits include:

Improved accuracy: AI can help students improve their accuracy in spelling, grammar, and math tasks. This can free up students’ time and energy to focus on other aspects of their learning.
Increased independence: AI can help students to become more independent learners. This is because AI can provide students with personalized feedback and assistance, which can help them to identify and correct their mistakes.
Accelerated learning: AI can help students to learn at a faster pace. This is because AI can provide students with customized instruction and practice, which can help them to master new concepts more quickly.
Reduced stress: AI can help students to reduce stress and anxiety. This is because AI can provide students with support and encouragement, which can help them to feel more confident in their abilities.

Limitations of AI for Students with Learning Disabilities

While AI can provide several benefits for students with learning disabilities, there are also some limitations to consider. Some of these limitations include:

Cost: AI-based tools can be expensive (however, ChatGPT and Bard are free), making them inaccessible to some students.
Accuracy: AI-based tools are not always accurate, which can lead to errors in student work.
Bias: AI-based tools can be biased, leading to unfair treatment of students.

AI-based tools can potentially revolutionize the lives of students with learning disabilities. These tools can provide students several benefits, including improved accuracy, increased independence, accelerated learning, and reduced stress. However, it is essential to note that AI-based tools have limitations, such as cost, accuracy, and bias. Despite these limitations, AI-based tools have the potential to make a significant positive impact on the lives of students with learning disabilities.

Various Unrecognized AI Tools

Virtual Personal Assistants: Virtual personal assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant use natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to understand and respond to user requests. Millions of people use these assistants daily without realizing they are using AI.
Social Media Algorithms: Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter use AI-powered algorithms to curate content, make recommendations, and personalize user experiences. These algorithms use machine learning to analyze user behavior and preferences, deciding what content to show each user.
Online Shopping Recommendations: E-commerce sites like Amazon and eBay use AI-powered recommendation engines to suggest products to users based on their browsing and purchase history. These recommendation engines use machine learning algorithms to analyze user behavior and make personalized recommendations.
Fraud Detection: Many banks and financial institutions use AI-powered fraud detection systems to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions. These systems use machine learning algorithms to analyze transaction data and detect patterns that may indicate fraud.
Content Moderation: Social media platforms and other online communities use AI-powered content moderation systems to identify and remove inappropriate or harmful content. These systems use natural language processing and machine learning to analyze content and flag potentially problematic posts.

AI has the potential to liberate, accommodate, and automate various aspects of our lives, including work and education, for individuals with disabilities. As we continue to explore and harness the power of AI, it is crucial to prioritize inclusivity, accessibility, and ethical considerations to ensure that these technologies truly empower and support individuals with disabilities in their pursuit of independence and success.

Note: AI was used in the assistance of writing and researching for this blog.

AI Language Models In #HealthEd and #PhysEd

Artificial Intelligence (AI) language models are on the rise. The world’s largest tech companies are in a race to develop the most powerful and most used tools. Microsoft Copilot (powered by Open AI), Google Bard, GrammarlyGo, and Adobe FireFly are examples. A multitude of applications and platforms are being developed daily (honestly, I can’t keep up). Open AI appears to be leading the way, with others chasing to catch up.

Buckle up because AI-Language Models will shift the world and how we do everything. I was curious, so I asked ChatGPT 3(a free Open AI platform I will discuss in depth below) how AI Language models will change the world. It shared with me that AI Language Models will change the world in the following ways:

Communication: AI language models can help people communicate more effectively across languages and cultures. For example, translation models like Google Translate can help people communicate with each other in real time without the need for a human translator.
Education: AI language models can provide personalized and adaptive learning experiences that cater to individual learning styles and abilities. For example, language models can create interactive lessons and quizzes based on a student’s skill level.
Research: AI language models can help researchers analyze large volumes of text data quickly and accurately, making it easier to identify trends, patterns, and insights. This can lead to breakthroughs in fields like medicine, social science, and technology.
Creativity: AI language models can generate new content that is both creative and informative. For example, language models can write news articles, generate marketing, or even compose music.
Accessibility: AI language models can make information more accessible to people with disabilities. For example, language models can convert text into audio or braille, making it easier for people with visual impairments to consume content.

There is much more that AI will shift that we are not even thinking about at this point. Check out what Bill Gates recently wrote. Also, many are worried and calling for things to pause in the AI race. The bottom line is that things could look dramatically different in the world very soon.

You might be asking, what is an AI Langage model, and what does this mean for us as health and physical education professionals? AI language models help people communicate more effectively and efficiently by providing tools to understand, analyze, and generate human language. These models are trained on large datasets of human language, allowing them to learn the patterns and structures of human speech and writing.

AI Langague Models can help in education and, more specifically, in health and physical education. This includes various ways, such as curriculum development, assessment creation, and lesson plan development. AI Langague Models can also help with repetitive tasks that take up much time, such as writing emails, and can also help you consider the tone of your emails which can be very helpful.

The most (for now) popular way to access an AI Language Model at the moment is through a tool created by Open AI, Chat Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) 3. To use ChatGPT’s language capabilities, you can access its web interface directly on the OpenAI website. Simply go to the ChatGPT page and click on “Start chatting.” You’ll then be taken to a chat window to interact with ChatGPT directly.

Once in the chat window, you can ask ChatGPT questions or provide prompts to generate text. For example, you can ask ChatGPT to generate a sentence about a specific physical education or health inquiry or ask it to give ideas for a new lesson plan. ChatGPT will then create a response based on its training data and provide it in the chat window.

The best part is that ChatGPT is accessible for free and requires no special software or hardware. It is important to note that ChatGPT only has access to data from 2021 and before. If you want to sign up for an account, click here (suggested), and it will save all of your many conversations that you can refer back to later. If you want a more powerful tool, you can upgrade to ChatGPT 4 ($20) a month. ChatGpt 4 has a variety of plugins provided by various platforms, such as Zapier, which can access the web.

It’s important to note that while ChatGPT is a powerful tool, it is not a substitute for human expertise and judgment. Health and physical education professionals should use ChatGPT to assist in their work, not as a replacement for their knowledge, experience, and expertise.

Additionally, it’s important to critically evaluate the responses generated by ChatGPT and use your own judgment to determine whether they are appropriate and accurate. Below, we will explore how ChatGPT can create quality learning content and lesson plans, focusing on prompt engineering.

The Importance of Prompt Engineering

Prompt engineering is the process of designing specific and precise prompts that enable the AI language model to generate high-quality responses that align with the user’s goals. Prompt engineering is crucial because it directly impacts the AI language model’s output quality. The prompts provided to the model are essentially instructions that guide it on what kind of response to generate. Therefore, the prompts’ quality and specificity will determine the generated content’s quality and relevance.

Good prompt engineering involves designing prompts that are clear, concise, and aligned with the user’s goals. The prompts should be tailored to the specific task or use case, and consider the nuances of the language and domain used.

With ChatGPT specifically, prompt engineering is particularly important because it is a large language model that generates responses based on vast training data. Therefore, the quality of the prompts can help the model identify the most relevant information and create accurate, informative, and engaging responses.

I asked ChatGPT to give an example of prompt engineering, and this is what it shared:

Let’s say you want to ask ChatGPT for information about a particular topic. A poorly designed prompt might be:

“What can you tell me about topic X?”

This prompt is too general and open-ended and may not provide enough information for ChatGPT to generate an accurate response. The model could potentially generate a response that is too broad or unrelated to the specific aspect of topic X that you are interested in.

A well-designed prompt might be:

“What are some effective strategies for managing stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic?”

This prompt is effective because it is specific and clearly states the topic (managing stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic). It also provides a clear request for information (effective strategies), which helps ChatGPT understand what the user is looking for. The prompt is easy to understand and well-structured, which can help ChatGPT generate a helpful and relevant response.

By designing prompts tailored to your specific question or task, you can ensure that ChatGPT generates accurate and relevant responses. I suggest you simply play around with this and become familiar with the prompt engineering process.

A Physical Education Example for Creating Learning Content with ChatGPT

Using prompt engineering, ChatGPT can help create learning activities aligned with the SHAPE America National Standards. Let’s look at an example of how to use ChatGPT to create a learning activity for second-grade students.

Note: This is simply an example of the capabilities of ChatGPT. This is not a perfect learning activity. Some modifications were made (as I will discuss below), but the learning activity was left primarily as ChatGPT created it. I wanted to show some errors a user would need to correct while collaborating with ChatGPT.

The following prompt was provided to ChatGPT: “Please create a detailed Pokémon-themed instant activity for second-grade students. Please include the SHAPE America National Standards, a psychomotor objective, a cognitive objective related to physical education, and an affective objective related to physical education. Include safety for this activity. Ensure that this game is not an elimination game and that it includes all students for the entire activity. This activity should last 2-5 minutes in length.” Below is what it provided.

Activity Objective:

To improve students’ locomotor skills (skipping, in particular) while also increasing their social-emotional skills, including teamwork and cooperation.

Materials:

Soft nerf ball as the Pokeball
Open space with boundaries to keep students within the play area.

Gameplay:

Divide students into two groups, one group as Pikachu and the other as Ash Ketchum. Each group stands on opposite ends of the play area.
The teacher or assigned leader starts the game by throwing the Pokeball into the air.
Both groups race to reach the ball.
Once a student picks up the ball, they must skip back to their group’s starting point.
The opposite group’s leader (either Pikachu or Ash Ketchum) tries to tag the student with the ball by touching them on the shoulder.
If the leader successfully tags the student, the student switches teams and becomes a member of the other team.
If the student returns to their starting point without being tagged, they score a point for their team.
The game continues for a set period, typically 2-5 minutes.

Affective Objectives:

Students will demonstrate cooperation and teamwork by working together with their group members to achieve their objectives.
Students will demonstrate respect and fairness by playing the game without any physical contact and no winner or loser.

Cognitive Objective:

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of the game and the rules by following the teacher’s instructions and the gameplay.

Psychomotor Objective:

Students will improve their locomotor skills, specifically skipping, through the game’s activities.

It’s important to note that it took four sets of revisions to arrive at the final learning activity. The first response was too complex and challenging for second-grade students, the second response involved running instead of skipping, and I chose to change the movement for it to be safer; the third response had Pikachu trying to tag Ash Ketchum instead of what is listed above, and finally, the fourth response involved a winner and loser and I removed this. By collaborating with ChatGPT and using prompt engineering, we arrived at an age-appropriate and inclusive learning activity. However, specific safety cues were left out. Further, the final version shared above left off the SHAPE America standards. An early version of the game included SHAPE America standard One as a guide for instruction. Last, the objective could be more specific. Additional prompts could have added these features. Being a content expert will be necessary when using AI Langage Models.

Cautions for Teachers

While ChatGPT is a valuable tool for physical education professionals, it’s essential to be cautious. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Always double-check the generated text to ensure that it is accurate and appropriate.
Be mindful of the language and cultural biases that may be present in the AI model.
Avoid using AI-generated text as the sole basis for decision-making. It should always be used in conjunction with other sources of information and professional expertise.

Cautions for Creators and Businesses in the Health and Physical Education Space

It’s important to note that while AI language models like ChatGPT can be incredibly useful in creating educational content, it’s essential to approach the development process with a student-first mentality. As educational creators and businesses begin to use and develop tools with AI language models, it’s crucial to remember the learning needs and experiences of the students they’re trying to reach. Right now, the whole world is in a race to be the first. However, being the first could come at the expense of students if those in the education sector put financial gain over students’ needs.

While there is a way to integrate ChatGPT within education platforms, this should be done with care and attention to student learning. There should be a focus on best practices, including creating content that is standards-based, inclusive, accessible, and engaging to students of all backgrounds and abilities. By approaching the creation process with a student-first mentality, businesses and creators can steer our profession in a way that will lead to better student learning and experiences if done with care and intentionality.

In conclusion, AI Language Models are a valuable tool for health and physical education professionals, and prompt engineering is essential for ensuring that the generated text is relevant and valuable. With caution and careful consideration, physical education professionals can leverage this technology to create more engaging and effective learning content.